knecht and j



H. KNECHT AND SCHERRER.

- ARRANGEMENT FOR CHANGING THE GAGE 0F RAILWAY VEHICLES.'

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 5| IQIQ.

11,304,490.- Patented May 20, 1919.

2 8HEETS-SHEET I.

H. KNECHT AND J. SGHERRER. ARRANGEMENT FOR CHANGING THE GAGE 0F RAILWAY VEHICLES- APPLICATION FILED MAR 5,19fi9.

Patented May 20, 1919.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 Jizvezziom: Wm W MW -15 mums PETERS co.. Fume-Limo WASHING mu. 1:. c

HEINRICH KNECHT AND JAKOB SCHELR-RER, or NEU I UsEN; SWITZERLAND.

ARRANGEMENT FOR CHANGING THE GAGE OF RAILWAY-VEHICLES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed March 5, 1919. Serial No. 280,834.

T 0 all whom it may concern. I

Be it known that we, HEINRICH KNEOHT, a citizen of the Republic of Switzerland, residing at Neuhausen, Schafihauserstrasse 675, Switzerland, and JAKoB SGHERRER, a citizen of the Republic of Switzerland, residing at Neuhausen, Centralstrasse 161, Switzerland, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Arrangements for Changing the Gage of Railway-Vehicles; and we do hereby declare the following to be a clear, full, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which is appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to letters or figures of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

It has been proposed to provide in connection with vehicles for railway installations adapted to run along tracks of different gages means for changing the distance between the wheels mounted on the same axle of the vehicle when the latter passes from the track onto another one of different gage. All the means of this kind proposed hitherto have however very great drawbacks.

In some of these arrangements hitherto used for changing the transversal distance between the running wheels the displacement of the latter is made dependent for instance on special workshop installations; this involves a great loss of time in the stations where the transition from one gage onto the other one is effected.

In other known arrangements for changing the gage of vehicles, the ends of the axles of the vehicle each carrying a pair of running wheels have a helicoidal shape and the hubs or naves of said wheels are rotatably mounted on these ends. The hubs of the wheels are thereby guided by the helicoidal portions of the axles and they are adapted to be fixed in the positions corresponding to the two gages of the track by means of a suitable locking member. This arrangement has however the drawback that the wheels are shifted in a too abrupt man- 7 ner from the position corresponding to'one gageinto that corresponding to the second gage, so that the wheels carrying the load of the vehicle describe, while the displacement takes place, only half a revolution. In order to effect such a displacement, the

wheels should consequently slide on the rails and this will hardly be the case when the vehicle is heavily loaded.

This invention relates to an arrangement for changing the gage of vehicles in which the above-mentioned drawbacks are remedied, and which comprises transition rails connecting the lines oi rails belonging to a track of one gage to the lines of rails belonging to the track of the other gage, and which comprises also an auxiliary rack rail Patented May 20,1919.

arranged betweenthe lines-of rails of. the Y transition track and adapted to cooperate with auxiliary wheels arranged betweenthe two running or carrying wheels of'eachaxle of the vehicle when the latter is moved from the broad track onto the narrower one or vice versa. The design of this arrangement is thereby such that the running or carrying wheels of the vehicle rolling along the transition rails of the, track are rotatedrel atively to the auxiliary wheels in consequence of a difference between their diameter and that of the two running wheels mounted on the same axle. Owing to this rotary movement imparted to the running 1 wheels while they roll along the rails of transition, an axial displacement is imparted to these wheels due to an operative 0on nection between the running wheels and the auxiliary wheels effected by screw-threaded members.

Thls ll'lVBIltlOIl' will now be more particularly described with reference to the aco companying drawings illustrating by way of example one construction of carrying out the invention.

In these drawings:

Figure 1 is partly a front view and partly a vertical section of an axle provided with a pair of carrying wheels adapted to headusted in its axial direction.

Fig. 2 is a side view seen in the direction of the arrow y of Fig. 1 of one of the carrying wheels;

Fig. 3 is a crosssection on the line IIIIII of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4: shows a second position of a detail illustrated in Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is a plan view of the rails of transition and the rack rail, the dash line of this figure illustrating two carrying wheels the one of which is just coming out'of engage-V.

ment with the rack rail while the other one starts to engage with it.

Fig. 6 illustrates diagrammatlcally por tion of a. railway installation comprising two tracks of different gage, rails of transition and a rack rail.

Referring to Figs. 5 and 6 of the drawings, i denotes the distance between the rails of the narrow gage track and f the distance between the rails of the broad gage track, while 0 designates the transition rails and w the rack rail.

When the vehicle is on the track of narrow gage 2', the carrying wheels 7' of the vehicle assume the position illustrated in Fig. 1. In this position the body (Z of each wheel r touches the arresting disk t of a sleeve h. The end of this sleeve h is provided with an internal screw-thread. Locking pawls is are pivotally mounted on an external arresting disk 8; these pawls k pass through slots n of the body portion (,Z of the wheel 1" and they are adapted to engage into corresponding recesses of arresting disk 25 formed integral with the sleeve h When this is the case, said pawls is effect in conjunction with the screw-threaded portion 9 of the sleeve 71 screwed onto the screw-threaded nave w of the wheel body (Z a rigid connection between the body (Z and the sleeve h mounted on the same axle 20, so that any accidental axial displacement of said sleeve is prevented when the vehicle subjected to continuous shocks moves along the normal tracks. The sleeve h is provided with a toothed wheel .2 arranged at equal distances from the two running or carrying wheels 1* mounted on the same axle w. The sleeve it rests on this axle to between two shoulders of the latter, it being consequently prevented from moving in an axial direction. The external arresting disks 8 referred to are rigidly fixed in any suitable manner to the axle it).

When the two wheels 1' have to be displaced on the axle w in order that the vehicle may run for instance along the track of broad gage f, the locking pawls 7c of all wheels are caused at first to disengage the recesses a of the arresting disks t; to this end they are moved into the position shown in Fig. 4.

When a pair of running wheels 9" passes onto the transition rails 0, the toothed wheel a engages with the rack rail 00 and is caused to rotate. While the vehicle is moved along the transition rails, thetoothed wheel 2 engaging with the raised rack rail :0 makes a greater number of revolutions than the two larger wheels 1 as its diameter, which is smaller than that of the wheels 7', develops more rapidly. The angular velocity of the sleeve h is therefore greater than that of the wheels 7*; in consequence of this the screwthreaded hubs o of the wheel bodies (Z are unscrewed from the screw-threaded portions 9 of the sleeve it. On the same axle the direction of the screw-thread of the portions 9 of the sleeve h is at one of its ends opposite to that of the screw-thread at the opposite end. The length of the rack rail in is such that the running wheels are shifted apart to an amount corresponding to the distance f between the heads of the rails of the broader track and the arrangement is such that the bodies (Z of the running wheels touch the arresting disks before the toothed Wheel 2 reaches the end of the rack rail m. In this position of the wheels 7", the latter are prevented from rotating freely because their movement is now dependent on the movement carried out by the toothed wheel 2, so that they are caused to rotate at the same angular velocity as the wheel .2. As the diameter of the wheels 1" is greater than that of the toothed wheel 2, said wheels -r are caused to slide on the rails as soon as the bodies (l are pressed against the disks 8 and until the toothed wheel 2 disengages the rack rail 00. The friction resistance produced while the wheels 1' slide along the rails has the effect to press the body (Z of said wheels 9? in the required manner tightly against the disks 8.

, The rails 0 of the installation effecting the transition of the vehicles from the rails of the track of narrow gage 2' onto the rails of the track of broader gage f are so arranged that the gage of the rails 0 varies in a manner corresponding to the axial displacement of the carrying wheels 1*.

When the toothed wheel a has left the rack rail 00, the locking pawls 7c are moved from the position shown in Fig. 4 back into the position shown in Fig. 1, so that they are caused to engage in their horizontal position the corresponding recesses a provided in the arresting disks 6. The vehicle is now ready for being moved along the track of broad gage 7.

When the vehicle has to be moved from a track of broader gage onto one of narrower gage, the same operations take place but in the opposite sense.

The locomotive shunting the vehicles along the rails 0 of transition can be provided with wheels arranged at a fixed distance from one another corresponding to one of the gages z or f respectively, as it is only necessary to prolong in such a case (as shown in Fig. 6) the track having the gage f from the point where it crosses the transition rails 0 toward the right of Fig. 6, or the track having the gage i from the point whereit crosses the rails 0 of transition toward the left of Fig. 6. The length of the rails arranged at a distance i or f respectively from one another extending beyond said crossing point with the rails o is so chosen that the locomotive having wheels arranged at a lateral distance or respectively from each other, is able to of feet without difliculty the required shunting movements.

What we claim now as our invention, is:

1. An arrangement for changing the gage of railway vehicles, comprising means arranged in the transition portion of the track between the lines of rails, two running wheels mounted on each axle of the vehicle, a member in connection with each axle arranged between its two running wheels and engaging with said means when the vehicle is passing along the transition portion of the track, and means efiecting such an operative connection between each of said members and the two running wheels mounted on the same axle thatthe running wheels caused to rotate relatively to said member while the vehicle is moved along the transition portion of the track and roll-' ing on its rails are simultaneously moved in the axial direction of the axle.

2. An arrangement for changing the gage of railway vehicles, comprising means arranged in the transition portion of the track between the lines of rails, two running wheels mounted on each axle of the vehicle, an auxiliary wheel in connection with each axle arranged between its two running wheels and having a diameter differing from that of the'latter, said auxiliary wheel engaging with said means when the vehicle is moved along the transition portion of the track, and means efl'ectingsuch an operative connection between each auxiliary wheel and the two running wheels mounted on the same axle that the running wheels caused to rotate relatively to said auxiliary wheel while the vehicle is moved along the transition portion of the track and rolling on its rails are simultaneously moved in the axial direction of the axle.

3. An arrangement for changing the gage of railway vehicles, comprising transition rails effecting the connection between two tracks of diiferent gage, a rack rail arranged between the transition rails, two running wheels mounted on each axle of the vehicle, an auxiliary wheel in connection with each axle arranged between its two running wheels and having a diameter differing from that of the latter, said auxiliary wheel engaging with said rack rail when the vehicle is moved along the transition portion of the track, and means efiecting such an operative connection between each auxiliary wheel and the two running wheels mounted on the same axle that said running wheels caused to rotate relatively to said auxiliary wheel while the vehicle is moved along the transition portion of the track and rolling on the transition rails are simultaneously moved in the axial direction of the axle.

4. An arrangement for changing the gage of railway vehicles, comprising transition rails effecting the connection between two tracks of diiierent gage, a rack rail arranged between the transition rails, two running wheels mounted on each axle of the vehicle, anauxiliary wheel in connection with each axle arranged between its two running wheels and having a diameter differing from that of the latter, said auxiliary wheel engaging with said rack rail when the vehicle is moved along the transition portion. of the track, and a screw-threaded sleeve on each axle rotatably mounted thereon and :prevented from moving in its axial'direction, said sleeve effecting such an operative connection between the auxiliary wheel and the two running wheels mounted on the same axle that said running wheels caused torotate relatively to said auxiliary wheel while the vehicle is moved along the transition portion of the track and rolling on the transition rails are simultaneously moved in the axial direction of the axle.

5. An arrangement for changing the gage of railway vehicles, comprising transition rails effecting the connection between two tracksof diiierent gage, a rack rail arranged between the transition rails, two running wheels mounted on each axle of the vehicle, an auxiliary wheel in connection with each axle arranged between its two running wheels and having a diameter differing from that of the latter, said auxiliary wheel engaging with said rack rail when the vehicle is moved along the transition portion of the track, and a screw-threaded sleeve on each axle rotatably mounted thereon and prevented from moving in its axial direction,

said sleeve being formed integral with the auxiliary wheel provided in connection with the axle on which said sleeve is mounted and being so operatively connected with the two running wheels mounted on the same axle that said running wheels caused to rotate relatively to said auxiliary wheel while the vehicle is moved along the transition portion of the track and rolling on the transition rails are simultaneously moved in the axial direction of the axle.

6. An arrangement for changing the gage of railway vehicles, comprising transition rails effecting the connection between two tracks of different gage, a rack rail arranged between the transition rails, two running wheels mounted on each axle of the vehicle,

an auxiliary wheel in connection with each axle arranged between its two running wheels and having a diameter differing from that of the latter, said auxiliary wheel engaging with said rack rail when the vehicle is moved along the transition portion of the track, a screw threaded sleeve on each axle rotatably mounted thereon and prevented from moving in its axial direction, said sleeve being formed integral with the auxiliary wheel provided in connection with the axle on which said sleeve is mounted and being so operatively connected with the two running wheels mounted on the same axle that said running Wheels caused to rotate relatively to said auxiliary Wheel While the vehicle is moved along the transition portion of the track and rolling on the transition Tails are simultaneously moved in the axial direction of the axle, two arresting disks provided at the ends of each screw-threaded sleeve on the inside of the running Wheels, two arresting disks in connection with each aXle rigidly connected thereto at the outside of the running Wheels, said arresting disks being adapted to fix the running Wheels in the positions corresponding to two difierent gages, and locking means provided on the arresting disks arranged at the outside of the running Wheels and passing through the latter, said locking means being adapted to engage with the arresting disks on the inside of the running Wheels formed integral with the screw-threaded sleeve when the running Wheels are in their normal positions, preventing thereb any relative movement between the auxiliary Wheel. and the running Wheels mounted on the same axle.

In testimony that we claim the foregoing as our invention, We have signed our names.

HEINRICH KNECHT. JAKOB SCHERRER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

' Washington, D. G. 

